Books and other items printed in Gaelic from 1871 to 1900 > Gaelic bards, and original poems

THE ISLANDERS GUIDING STAR.
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THE ISLANDER’S GUIDING STAR.
The [following verses were suggested by reading the
beautiful and well-known linos, on the same subject,
composed in Gaelic by Dr. John Macleod of Morven : —
Black -was the night—the waves were black,
And black the gloom of heaven;
Loud blew the storm, and fast the rack
By the swift winds was driven.
’Twas then a veil came o’er the Isle
Of green and level lea,
Which lies full many a heaving mile
Out in the western sea :
A veil that round its every bay
With deepening darkness sped—
And spread where lone and far away,
One boat the tempest fled.
Her rowers’ strength was well nigh spent,
Not yet their port they knew;
For not a star its lustre lent
Unto the toiling crew.
And not a headland they descried,
Nor rock, nor guiding light;
While round them sank the darkness wide
Of black and rayless night.
Out then, and spake a mariner—
A hardy man was he,